Carrier rod locking device



April 12, 1938 E. RUCKEL CARRIER ROD LOCKING DEVICE Filed March 50, 1957 4, Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 7? WIN lPuc/v EL.

April 12, was. E. RUCKEL 2,113,773

,- CARRIER ROD LOCKING DEVICE Filed March 50, 1937 4 Sheets-$heet 2 GEE-Ml!!! INVENTOR L 'E/ww/v EUCAEL BY \E, 2 L L J U 3". ATTORNE April 12, 1938. E. RUCKEL CARRIER ROD LOCKING DEVICE Filed March 30, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVETOR [kw/N Rue/r5;-

mag \is ATTORNEY April 12, 1938. E. RUCKEL CARRIER ROD LOCKING DEVICE Filed March 30, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR f/Pw/A/ Rue/r54 hi ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 12, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs CARRIER ROD LOCKING DEVICE Application March 30,

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in carrier rod locking device for full fashioned fiat knitting machines. For the knitting of certain fabrics several carrier rods are required, one or more of whichare connected to their driving means during each traverse of the friction rod, the others remaining idle but in operative position-that is to say, against their end stops-so that their thread carriers are in the correct position to start a thread-laying traverse whenever these particular rods are brought into action.

The most familiar example of the operation of carrier rods in rotation is in the knitting of the so-called ringless fabric in which a different yarn is laid in each succeeding course of a sequence of courses, the sequence being repeated throughout the length of the stocking or any desired portion thereof. Ordinarily three separate but otherwise similar yarns are employed in such fabric, and consequently three carrier rods are required for laying them, a different rod being traversed for each succeeding course, the other two remaining idle.

Because the idle carrier rods must be maintained in operative position against their end stops, and because of the very small clearance between their thread carriers and that of the working rod between strokes, a very slight sagging or bending will cause them to rub so that the carrier of a working rod may drag that of an idle rod into the field of knitting operations at the beginning of a traverse, which is almost certain to result in damage not only to the fabric, but to the sinkers and needles.

The object of this invention is to eliminate the possibility of such dragging out of position of idle carrier rods and carriers, and to insure that they are held securely against their end stops until such time as they are brought into action.

The form of the invention selected for description herein is particularly adapted for use in connection with the knitting of simple threethread ringless fabric, but it will be understood 45 that the invention is by no means limited thereto, but may be employed in connection with many other knitting operations such as the knitting of ringless fabric having reinforced selvages composed of the same yarns as the body portion, in striping, etc.--in short, on substantially any occasion where it is desirable to lock carrier rods against their stops to eliminate the possibility of dragging.

In the drawings:

1937, Serial No. 133,813

. Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of a part of a flat knitting machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of Fig. 1 looking from the right;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan View of the device on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the cam and lever mechanisms on the line 4-6 of Fig. 2 viewed as indicated by the arrows; and

Figs. 5-? are diagrammatic views illustrating the operation of the device as viewed from the front of the machine.

In the form selected for description herein, the device is shown applied to a full fashioned fiat knitting machine of generally standard design. Consequently, only those parts of the machine which are necessary for an understanding of the invention are shown. These parts include three of the carrier rods, I, 2 and 3, end stops, 4, 5 and 5, on one narrowing head, similar end stops on the other narrowing head (not shown), slur bar l2 and main cam shaft 55.

The selected form of the device of the invention consists of a set of latch levers, 48 and 49, freely pivoted on a shaft 50 supported by one narrowing head, and an opposing set of latch levers 5|, 52 and 53 freely pivoted on a similar shaft 54 on the other narrowing head. These levers are provided with latches 55, 55 and 51 and 58, 59 and 60, respectively, the three latches of each set lying above the path of travel of carrier rods l, 2 and 3, respectively, in the order indicated.

The latch levers are provided with downwardly-depending fingers BI, 52 and 63 and 64, 65 and 56, respectively. Finger 6| overlies the path of carrier rod 3, finger 52 overlies the path of carrier rod l, and finger 63 overlies the path of carrier rod 2, latch levers 41, 48 and 49 being suitably formed to make this possible, as shown in Figures 1 and 3. Similarly, the other set of op posing latch levers is provided with similar fingers 64, 55 and 65, lying above the paths of carrier rods 3, l and 2, respectively. That is to say, there is an opposed, but otherwise identical latch lever on each narrowing head for each rod; each is independently rockable on its shaft, the free ends being urged downwardly by springs 61 attached to any suitable anchorage 61a.

As generally stated heretofore, these latches serve to lock the idle carrier rods against their end stops to guard against displacement through the interference of thread carriers. To this end each carrier rod is provided with two opposed, but otherwise identical latch plates so positioned adjacent the ends of each carrier rod that the respective latches will be engageable with them when the rods are resting against their end stops. The plates for carrier rods l are shown at 68 and H, those for carrier rods 2, at 69 and 72, and those for carrier rods 3, at 10 and 13. Each plate is provided with a latch notch 15 and a finger support 16 and projects above the carrier rod sufficiently so that when a rod is resting against its end stop the finger support 16 of the latch plate on that rod will prevent the finger of the corresponding latch lever from swinging down and will consequently prevent the latch of this latch lever from looking up the rod with which it is associated. This will be brought out more clearly when the operation of the device is described.

Means for lifting latch levers 41, 48 and 49 to permit the latch plates of the carrier rods to pass under the fingers of the latch levers so that the incoming carrier rod can reach its end stop is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. It consists of arms 28 and 2| rigidly attached to shaft 58 on either side of the latches. These arms are connected by a rod 24 passing directly below the latch levers. to shaft 58 with its free end resting upon a plate '26 of sufficient length to maintain contact with arm 25 through the range of adjustment of the narrowing head upon which the latch levers are mounted.

The plate 25 is supported upon the upper end of a rod 21 mounted in a suitable bearing 210. on the frame of the machine. The lower end of rod 21 is pivotally attached to arm 28 of a bellcrank 29 rockably mounted upon a shaft 35, which shaft is in turn supported by bearings 3|. The other arm 32 of bell-crank 29 supports a short shaft 33 upon which a cam roller 34 is slidably mounted so that it may be engaged with or disengaged from a cam 35 uponmain cam shaft 35. When engaged the latch levers will be periodically lifted and lowered in accordance with the rotation of cam 35, except as affected,

by the action of the carrier rod latch plates, as will hereinafter be described. When cam roller 34 is disengaged from cam 35 the latch levers will be removed from the influence of the cam.

Preferably the working surface of cam 35 is so proportioned and the operation of the cam so timed that the latches will be lifted at approximately the middle of a carrier rod traverse. In any event the latches should be lifted before a latch plate on a carrier rod can collide with the corresponding finger on a latch lever when the end stops and, consequently, the latches have been racked inwardly the maximum amount required for narrowing or any other operation.

The influence of cam 35 upon the latches should be removed immediately after a carrier rod traverse has terminated and during the subsequent over-travel of the slur bar to insure that this carrier rod will be locked up at the beginning of the next carrier rod traverse, and to permit the shifting of roller 34 off from cam 35 during the over-travel of the slur-bar.

The means for shifting cam roller 34 into and out of engagement with cam 35 consists of a yoke 31, the arms 38 and 39 of which support a shaft 40. A block4| is splined to shaft 48 between arms 38 and 39 and is provided with a pin 42. Upon block 4| is hinged as at 44 a shifter arm 43 so that it can move bodily in a horizon- .tal direction with block 4| and also rock in a vertical plane The forkedend45 of shifter arm 43' rests in an annular recess of a collar 11 Another arm 25 is also rigidly attached traverse occurs.

attached to cam roller 34. Pin 42 passes through an aperture in shifter arm 43 serving as a support for the shifter arm in its horizontal move ment without interfering with the rocking of the shifter arm to follow the rocking of cam roller 34 under the influence of cam 35. By shifting block 4| to the left, as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 4, cam roller 34 will be engaged with cam 35 through the corresponding movement of shifter arm 43. To disengage roller 34 from cam 35 block 4| is shifted to the right to move shifter arm 43 in the other direction.

The shifting of block 4| is controlled from the slur-bar i2 which is provided with two fingers 18 and 19 between which lies a shifting finger 80. Shifting finger 80 is fixed to a longitudinally slidable shifting rod 8| which is connected to block 4| by a suitable link 82. Finger 19 is so positioned upon slur-bar 2 with respect to finger 80 on rod 3| that finger 19 will move shifting finger 80, rod 8| and block 4| to the right sufiiciently to cause roller 34 to disengage from cam 35 during the over-travel of the slur-bar after a Working carrier rod has reached the end of, its traverse. plained, the cam roller 34 is riding upon the back of cam 35 so that as far as the cam is concerned, the latches may swing down into carrierrod locking position. Thus all of the carrier rods which are resting against their end stops at that end of the machine with the exception of one, are locked against dragging at the beginning of a traverse. The rod which is not so locked, is, of course, the one which is to be used for the next thread-laying traverse.

position by the latch plate of the carrier rod which has just completed its traverse, as heretofore explained. V

Finger 'IB is so positioned upon slur-bar l2 with respect to shifting finger 8|] upon rod 8| that it will not engage finger 80 to cause the shifting of cam roller 34 to the left until the over-travel of the slur-bar at the end of its next During this over-travel roller 34 is again moved intov contact with cam 35 so that it isin position to lift the latches during the next carrier rod traverse, as above described. It will thus be seen that the cam-operated vmechanism shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4 will lift all of the latches while a carrier rod is travelling to the right, as viewed in those figures, and, between the end of the carrier rod traverse and the over-travel of the slurebar, will release the latches so that this carrier. rod is locked up and remains locked up through the. next traverse of a carrier rod and the slur-bar to the left, and until the succeeding carrier rod is approximately halfway through its traverse to the right. The result is that the idle carrierrod is protected from the danger of dragging at the inception of a carrier rod traverse beginning at the end of the machine at which the idle rod is resting and against rebound or displacement from vibration throughout the next carrier rod traverse and initial part of the following carrier rod traverse.

The set of latch levers at the other end of the machine is provided with a similar operating mechanism functioning as above described with respect to the arrival and departure of carrier rods at that end of the machine. Hence no detailed description'of it is required.

The operation of the above devices-in the knitting of simple three-thread ringless fabric will now be described: I

At this time, as already ex- The latch is prevented from swinging down into locking tory path ready to move to the left.

It will be assumed that carrier rods I, 2 and 3 operate in that sequence-to lay the three yarns required, and that the carrier rods are in posi tions shown in Figure 5, viz., rod I to the left, and rods 2 and 3 to the right. This corresponds to the positions shown in Figures 1 and 3 in which they are viewed from the rear, whereas in Figures 5-7 they are viewed from the front of the machine. The first rod to be reciprocated will be rod 3 to lay a yarn from right to left. Slur-bar I2 will also be at the right end of its reciproca- Under these conditions the carrier rod latches will be as shown in Figure 5. Carrier rod 3, which is about to be traversed, is unlatched because its latch 60 is held out of engagement with its latch plate #3 by finger 66 on the same latch lever 53, which rests upon latch plate 12 on carrier rod 2.

Carrier rod 2 is locked against its end stop by its latch 59 on latch lever 52, because rod I is over at the other side of the machine, and consequently finger 65 of latch lever 52 which carries latch 59 for carrier rod 2, is'not in engagement with latch plate II on carrier rod I.

Carrier rod I is also looked against its left end stop by latch 55 since carrier rod 3, whose latch plate cooperates with finger 6| to prevent latch lever 41 from'dropping, is over at the right of the machine, and hence its latch plate III is not in engagement with the finger.

When carrier rod 3 is driven from right to left and before its latch plate ill reaches the associated finger 6| on latch lever 41, all of the three latch levers ll, 48 and 49 on the left narrowing head are lifted so that carrier rod 3 can reach its end stop without interference. This lifting, as previously described, is effected from the slur bar I2, which through the cooperation of fingers "I9 and 80 and the shifting mechanism associated therewith, causes cam roller 34 to engage with cam 35. Cam 35, as previously described, is properly shaped and timed to eifect the lifting of the latches at that time.

Also as heretofore stated, the further rotation of cam 35 will release the latches again'before the next carrier rod traverse begins so that carrier rod 3 is locked up by its latch plate 51. Carrier rod I, however, which is the next rod to be traversed, will remain unlocked because the finger 65 of its latch lever 41 rests upon latch plate H1 on carrier rod 3, so that its latch 55 cannot engage with latch plate 68 on carrier rod I. These conditions are illustrated in Figure 6, which also shows carrier 2 as still locked up against its right end stop because the finger 65 of its latch lever 52 cannot engage with latch plate II on carrier rod I since carrier rod I is over at the left side of the machine.

During the traverse of carrier rod I to the right, the latch levers 5|, 52 and 53 mounted upon the right narrowing head will be lifted by the cam-operated-shifting mechanism associated therewith, which is identical to that already described for the other set of latches to permit carrier rod I to reach its end stop. This is effected by the shifting of a cam roller into engagement with a cam by the slur-bar-operating mechanism. After the carrier rod I has reached its end stop the cam again releases the latches with the result that carrier rod I is locked against its end stop by its latch 58 on latch lever 5I (carrier rod 3 being on the other end of the machine and hence not in position .to prevent this by engaging finger 64) and carrier rod 2 remains unlocked so that it can make the next traverse to the left because the arrival of carrier rod I at the same end of the machine has positioned its latch plate ll beneath finger 65 on latch lever 52 so that latch 59 on that latch lever is prevented from again locking up carrier rod 2. Carrier rod 3 remains locked at the other side of the machine because of the absence of carrier rod 2, the latch plate 69 of which controls the latch of this rod through finger 63.

The operation of the device in subsequent carrier rod traverse will now be clear. It will be seen that all of the latches at that end of the machine at which a carrier rod traverse terminates are raised before the end of the traverse to permit the operating carrier rod to reach its end stop. Before the next traverse begins all of the latches are released and the one associated with the just-traversed rod looks it against its end stop, and keeps it so locked until the next rod to be traversed in the same direction approaches the end of its traverse. The arrival of a working rod at'its end stop prevents the relocking of the rod next to be traversed. The rod at the other end of the machine which was locked up immediately before a driven rod had departed from that end upon its traverse remains so locked until the latches are lifted shortly before the termination of the next carrier rod traverse at that end of the machine. This results from the fact that the cam roller is not in engagement with its cam so that all of the latches are released to assume their locking position. Therefore, the idle rod at the side of the machine at which a carrier rod traverse begins is locked against dragging, and the idle carrier rod at the other side of the machine is similarly locked against rebound, resulting from the impact of a driven rod against the opposite end stop. Each incoming carrier rod isolates the next outgoing carrier rod from its latch, but otherwise the latches are operated by other supplementary mechanism such as the cams described, or their equivalent. Since, in a standard knitting machine, the main cam shaft must make a. complete rotation during each knitting cycle,

both sets of latches would necessarily be operated during each carrier rod traverse irrespective of its direction, with the result that the idle rod at the end of the machine opposite to that at which a traverse terminates, would be unlatched when the driven rod strikes its end stop, and consequently exposed to the danger of rebound, were it not for the cam roller shifting mechanism described, which permits the cam to raise only the set of latches at the side of the machine at which a carrier rod traverse terminates, the other latches remaining in the locking position until the following traverse brings a carrier rod to that end of the machine.

If the rods are operated in some other sequence than that described above, the mechanism need be altered only to the extent of redesigning the latch levers so that the finger upon each of them will cooperate with the incoming carrier rod to prevent the locking up of the next outgoing carrier rod after the latches have all been lifted by the cam to permit the incoming rod to reach its end stop, as above described.

The device may be designed to operate in connection with a. larger or smaller number of carrier rods by correspondingly altering the number of latches and properly arranging their fingers to release any rod or rods at the required time. These alterations will depend upon the carrier rod requirements for the work being done, and are well within the ability of those skilled in the art who have familiarized themselves with the form of invention described herein.

I claim:

1. In a knitting machine, a plurality of reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for looking each rod against its end stop, means for moving. the latches out of locking position and for releasing them so that they can move into locking position, and other means on each carrier rod to prevent the latch for another carrier rod from moving into locking position when so released, and means for rendering inoperative the means for moving the latches out of locking position.

2. In a knitting machine, a plurality of reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for locking each rod against its end stop, means for moving the latches out of locking position and for releasing them so that they can move into locking position, other means on each carrier rod to prevent the latch for another carrier rod from moving into looking position when so released, and means on the slur-bar for throwing into and out of operation the means for moving the latches out of locking position.

3. In a knitting machine, a plurality of reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for locking each rod against its end stop, means for moving the latches out of locking position and for releasing them so that they can move into locking position, other means on each carrier rod to prevent the latch for another carrier rod from moving into locking position when so released, and means on the slurbar for throwing into and out of operation the means for moving the latches out of locking position during the over-travel of the slur-bar.

4. In a flat knitting machine, a plurality of reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for locking each rod against its end stop, cam-operated means for moving all of the latches out of locking position during the traverse of any of said carrier rods and for permitting them to move into locking position in the interval between carrier rod traverses, and

means on each carrier rod for preventing the latch for another carrier rod from so moving into locking position.

5. In a flat knitting machine, a plurality of reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for locking each rod against its end stop, cam-operated means for moving all of the latches simultaneously out of locking position during the traverse of any of said carrier rods and for permitting themto move into locking position in the interval between carrier rod traverses, and means on each carrier rod for preventing the latch for another carrier rod from so moving into locking position as long a the first-mentioned carrier rod is resting against its end stop.

6-. In a flat knitting machine, a plurality oi reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for locking each rod against its end stop, means for moving all of the latches simultaneously out of locking position during the traverse of any of said carrier rods, and for releasing them so that they can move into locking position in the interval between carrier rod traverses, and other means on each carrier rod to prevent the latch for another carrier rod from moving into lockingposition when so released.

'7. In a flatknitting machine, a plurality of reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for locking each rod against its'end stop, means for moving all of the latches simultaneously out of locking position during the traverse of any of said carrier rods, and for releasing them for movement into locking position. in the interval between carrier rod traverses, resilient means for moving each latch into locking position, and means associated with each latch for preventing said resilient means from so moving its associated latch into locking position.

8. In a flat knitting machine, a plurality of reciprocable carrier rods, a latch for locking each carrier rod against its end stop, cam-operated means for moving all of the latches simultaneously out of locking position during the traverse of any of said carrier rods, and for releasing them for movement into locking position in the interval between carrier rod traverses, resilient means for moving each latch into locking position, and means associated with each carrier rod for preventing said resilient means from moving its associated latch into locking position.

ERWIN RUCKEL. 

